Know Me Like Waves Know Shores
by longingparadise
Summary: When Dragon and Luffy meet face to face for the first time, Luffy doesn't recognize his father. But Dragon has to discover that he doesn't know a thing about his son either. No spoilers post the events of Marineford.


**NOTE: The story is taking place post-timeskip but there are** _ **no**_ **mentions about what happened during or after the two years.**

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 **Know Me Like Waves Know Shores**

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Dragon had known that he would be in town. Even if it hadn't been reported to him beforehand by a nervous yet nosy operator of his, he would've realized by the time he'd passed the port. The ship with the eye-catching Jolly Roger was hard to miss.

Here, in this sparely lit tavern, that shabby straw hat didn't stand out too much. Still, the boy should know better than wear it this openly in public.

A huge part of Dragon's work was based on operating through the shadows, biding your time and attacking at a strategic key point. Maybe that's why he couldn't grasp how a person, who knew just how high the bounty set on his head was, could walk about the world so nonchalantly with that straw hat proudly proclaiming who he was.  
It reminded him of his own father - a loud, boisterous man who'd always loved dramatic and imposing entrances.

Fortunately, the few guests in the tavern were too drunk to detect the boy's identity. Otherwise, Dragon might've had to put this meeting off again - not that it would've mattered. He hadn't planned on meeting his son this evening anyway. But since the opportunity had presented itself, he decided to finally seize it. It was a good time as any.

His son Monkey D. Luffy was sitting at a table at the corner of the room, ravenously eating teller after teller empty. It seemed as if he had ordered whatever had been on the place's menu. Luffy was nearly done when Dragon finally sat on the chair at the opposite end of the small table. But it was only after he was completely finished, every morsel entirely devoured, that the boy actually spared enough of his attention to notice him.

"Hi," Luffy greeted.

There was no recognition in his wide, curious eyes. But Dragon knew that Luffy was aware of his father's identity. After that affair in Marineford, there was probably no one who didn't know of their family relations.

"Hi," Dragon responded. Although his back was turned to the rest of the room, his face was clearly visible to his son. Maybe the boy just needed some time to recognize his face.

Luffy leaned back and stroked his belly in satisfaction. "Do I know you?" he asked confusedly.

"Apparently not."

Dragon was unsure how he felt about the fact that his son had never cared to look up how his father looked like, even after his identity had been revealed to him. But it didn't matter. After all, he was in no place to hold any demands or expectations. Still, maybe as a petty form of revenge, he felt like teasing the kid a little.

"What's a little guy like you doing in this tavern? There are some shady people hanging around here, you know."

Luffy giggled and adjusted the hat on his head. "I can take care of myself. Besides-" He stopped mid-sentence to look out of the foggy window to see the rain pouring harshly against the glass. "Besides, I didn't really want to stop here," he continued and turned towards Dragon again. "I was looking for my crewmate. We were exploring the town but suddenly he was gone. He always gets lost. Then the storm started and I got hungry and-" He shrugged.

Abruptly, he stood up. "But I have to get going, again!" he proclaimed loudly. "The others are waiting already and I've got to find Zoro so we can-"

"You won't be going anywhere in this storm," Dragon interrupted. "Do you have a navigator?"

The brief frown that had settled onto his son's face vanished. "Yes! Nami's the best of all navigators!"

"She'll tell you the same thing. You'll have to wait it out."

The boy's expression twisted into one of disappointment. He must've looked forward to setting out. "But I have to find Zoro!"

"He's probably fled into somewhere where he is sheltered from the storm, too. There is no point in searching for him now."

Dejectedly, Luffy sat back down and lay his head onto the wooden table. "But what am I supposed to do now? I'm bored," he whined like a petulant child.

Dragon grinned. "Why not stay for another meal? Did you have dessert yet?"

Luffy lifted his head and finally looked at him again. He smiled. "I like you. But Nami will be angry. She told me not to spend too much money while we're here."

He chuckled and looked at the large, shaky pile of plates that had been carelessly placed on top of each other. "Exactly what I'm saying. You've already spend enough money to get her angry. Might as well enjoy some dessert to pass the time."

Luffy's smile widened even further, making him look that much younger than he already was. It reminded Dragon of something he couldn't quite place.

"Come on," he baited when he saw a smidgen of hesitance remaining on the boy's face. "It'll be my treat."

Dragon called the waiter over, careful to keep his face hidden under his hood, and ordered a scoop of each flavor of ice-cream they had with some cream, chocolate sauce and a cherry on top. He had thought it to be impossible, but Luffy's face brightened even further, his eyes shining in pure glee.

"Thank you!" he exclaimed. "You're so cool!"

Now how many fathers could say that their children thought that way about them?

"You're a growing boy. You need to eat when your body demands you to."

Dragon knew that Luffy was already in his late teens. Therefore, he probably wouldn't be growing much more. But he was skinny and some additional food couldn't hurt.

"Yes, that's what I always say, too!"

When the ice-cream arrived, Luffy's eyes gleamed in happiness. Stoically, Dragon watched as his son ravished the dessert like a starving man.

"You haven't answered my question. Aren't you a little too young to be in this tavern, or even this town? It can become quite dangerous here. Where are your parents?"

Of course, Dragon didn't mean what he was saying. He knew full well that the boy sitting in front of him was a skilled fighter.  
But he wanted to see whether he could rile Luffy up, wanted to understand how deep his own father's influence ran. Garp had always been easy to anger. The old man's huge grin had been deceiving. Only the slightest sign of disrespect had been enough for him to lose his temper.

But Luffy didn't even bother to look up from the ice-cream he was still eating. Unperturbed, he answered, "I've got no parents."

Dragon frowned.

His son finally finished his dessert. Sated, he sighed before seeming to remember something. "Oh, but I've got a grandfather. He only checks up on me to complain, though."

The man chuckled when he heard the way his son talked about his own father. Dragon's relationship to Garp was not much different. All the old geezer could do was nag. "Yeah?"

"Yeah! He can be really mean even!"

"Why?"

Luffy scrunched his nose up and twisted his face into a funny grimace, showing how hard he was thinking about Dragon's question. Eventually, he gave up and shrugged. "I don't know. He always says that it builds character."

The man scratched his chin and began to ponder about that statement. Since he had no experience in parenting himself, he couldn't really judge Garp's approach to it. "Maybe your grandfather's right," he argued. "After all, you are of strong character, aren't you?"

And that was the reason why Dragon felt pride every time he saw Luffy's big smile gracing a wanted poster. That high bounty had been achieved through standing up against injustice and going against the oppression that was installed by the World Government.

Dragon didn't regret leaving his family because he had done it to stand up for what is right. He couldn't have lived under the Government's wrongful ruling while knowing that other people continued suffering to preserve the illusion that was called peace on opposite ends of the world.

Still, he'd never been able to stop wondering and worrying what his child, his flesh and blood, had been doing in the far East Blue. Sometimes he'd dreaded that his father would try to turn Luffy into the man that he couldn't turn Dragon into. But Garp had always been more passionate about being a soldier than being a parent and that apparently hadn't changed over time. When Dragon had left, he hadn't expected the geezer to retire. But even years after, when the old guy had entered his mid-seventies, he'd refused to step away from his position at the Marine.

It probably had been better that way. If Garp had had more time to spare, he would've kept Luffy on a much tighter leash. Maybe his son would've become a soldier for the Marine, too. That notion made him almost shiver in disgust. His own son, part of the Marine and the World Government's extended arm. It was ironic that fate had caused Garp's dedication to his job from preventing to influence Luffy into living his life in the same way. Dragon couldn't see much of his father in his son except-

"You okay?" Luffy interrupted his musings. "Did you zone out?"

"Yes. How did you like your ice-cream?"

"It was great! Not as good as Sanji's, but nothing's as good as Sanji's food, so it was still pretty great!" the boy exclaimed in joy. Again, his face was split into that toothy smile.

It was that smile that reminded Dragon of Garp - and of himself. Only wasn't Luffy's smile mischievous like Garp's or cunning like Dragon's. It was pure and entirely innocent. Not the slightest bit of malicious intent was tainting it.

That kind of expression normally didn't last long in this world. People either wisened up and recognized the cruelty in their surroundings, or they died. Naiveté inevitably killed the strongest of men.

Yet here was his son, his face unsuspecting as always, and still alive.

"I don't think that you needed your grandfather to take care of you. You turned out just right."

Luffy leaned back and twisted his lips into a childish pout. "What? You're still thinking about my Gramps? We've stopped talking about him ages ago!"

"What about your parents? Are you sure you don't have any?" Dragon asked to nudge his oblivious son into the right direction.

But Luffy only shook his head. "Gramps told me something some time ago. But I don't know if it's true."

Dragon raised an eyebrow, prodding him to continue. "What is it?"

"He said that I do have a father. But I don't know if that counts when I don't even know the guy."

Dragon leant forward and put his arms on the wooden table. He made sure to look with intensity into his son's eyes. Only when he saw that he had the boy's undivided attention, he answered, "It does count."

"Hmm. Are you sure?"

"Yes. Absolutely."

Suddenly, Luffy's expression changed. The carefree attitude vanished in favor of something that Dragon could recognize but wouldn't have ever thought to spot on his naïve son's face. It was bizarre. For that moment, it almost felt like Dragon was staring into a mirror. Closed off, the boy's eyes were completely unreadable, no lines in his skin, just a neutral expression of indifference.

"I don't care about someone's title," his son stated. "I only care about who they are."

A weight formed inside Dragon's chest when he asked his next question. "Are you angry at your father because he left you behind?"

Luffy shrugged. "Not really. I don't care what someone's done. But I don't know that man, so I don't really care about him, either."

Dragon – _that man_ – leaned back to watch the boy, no, the person in front of him. Luffy wasn't someone that had to be coddled or protected by anybody; those times were long over. He had developed into an independent individual in his own right.

Dragon wasn't an idiot. He had never fooled himself into believing that he might be able to retrieve what he had inevitably lost when he had left his child in order to change the world.  
But because Luffy had told him so, and because it would be unlike him to act any differently, he knew that his son held no grudges.  
The past was long over, but the future held all kinds of possibilities.

"Look," his son called, "the storm's stopping."

Dragon turned to the window. "Yes, it isn't raining as much anymore. The wind is still very harsh, though."

Luffy smiled. "It doesn't matter. I still have to get going. Thanks for the ice-cream." He stood up. "Maybe we'll meet again."

"We will," Dragon assured.

After Luffy left him with the tab for not only the ice-cream but also the rest of the enormous meal to take care of, the realization that he didn't know his son in the slightest remained. But what Dragon also knew with absolute certainty was that their time would eventually arrive. Then, Dragon would get to know the intriguing person that his son was.

Like waves know shores, that he was sure of.

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 **A/N: Thank you very much for reading!**

 **I wrote this because I wanted to read some Dragon-meets-Luffy stories but couldn't find all that much on that theme. I know that this is really short but even the 2k words that you've just read, I pulled out of my ass because we don't really know much about Dragon's character. Sooo… all of this might be horribly inaccurate and OOC by the time Oda chooses to reveal more about him.**

 **Still, I'm eager to hear what you thought about this little story! Please leave me a review:)**


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